


without leaving paw prints

by Itsamess



Category: Legion (TV), Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Crossover, David is confused, Except that the character is a dog, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Memory hiking, Ptolomy never smiles, and so is the fandom, quite sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 03:38:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10324769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsamess/pseuds/Itsamess
Summary: Another kid, on the creek shore.Ptolomy has told him about this possibility.He has told him that he has extraordinary cerebral capacities and that in certain conditions – of great peace or, on the contrary, of great focus – he could be able to pick up other people’s brain waves, like a radio station playing two songs at one time because of a signal interference.Til now, he has only experienced auditory stimuli – the voices he has been hearing are apparently people’s thoughts – but in the future he could have some visual glitches. He doesn’t need to worry, it’s totally normal.In other words, his mind is so fucked up that his hallucinations could have hallucinations, but he really doesn’t need to worry.Or: the crossover where David Haller makes friends in his mind and pets dog - or at least that's what he thinks





	

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language. I double-checked it, but if you find any mistake, please let me know

Dawn.  
People would normally be bothered by a therapy session scheduled for 6.00 am but David is grateful to have a reason to stop pretending to be asleep.  
   
Ptolomy is waiting for him.   
He is standing near the glass wall, his gaze lost somewhere in the wood.  
He is not smiling – Ptolomy never is.  
   
David can’t blame him: Ptolomy is about to spend his morning hiking the traumatic memories of a drug-addict, sociopath, maybe schizophrenic stranger. David likes him and would willingly spare him that show, crafting for him a white and innocent and impossible alternative reality like the one he created for Sydney, but he knows the Ptolomy would never buy it.  
He is smarter than that.  
   
   
That’s the reason why there is always a sense of guilt in watching himself, lying on the floor, delusional and high as fuck. Almost all the memories are like that. Memories of smokescreens and half-closed eyes. Memories of exploding stuff and blurry faces and screams – _his, for once, and not just in his head_. Memories that would be nightmares, if only they weren't true.  
David has never realized how pathetic his life is. Watching it from the outside is completely different   
   
   
«When you are ready» says Ptolomy, taking a seat in front of David and clearly expecting him to do the same.  
   
«I am» David lies, full aware that he will never be ready to relive the traumas it has taken years for his brain to remove.  
   
Ptolomy's power cant detect lies, so the man goes on.  
«Today we'll be trying a different approach. We want to discover if the neurological core of your visions is located on the amygdala or in the hippocampus. In other words, if your emotional state has an impact on the subject of your visions»  
   
«Ooook» David clenches his fingers on the table support «What am I supposed to do?»  
   
«Think about a happy memory»  
   
David exhales sharply, amused, but Ptolomy doesnt change his expression. Is he serious? Hasn't he seen enough to know that there is no such thing as happy memories in David's life? But Ptolomy never jokes about anything, so David shrugs and says: «I can give it a try»  
   
He takes a deep breath, like a scuba diver getting ready for a memory dive, and closes his eyes.  
   
It takes just a moment and he is ten again and a black and white dog is sniffing his left shoe before running away.  
   
_King_  
_It's my dog. I love him._  
   
David looks around, trying to understand where he is. It looks the prairie where his family used to spend the summer, when he and Amy were kids. There's a small creek stretching before him, zigzaging between the field. There are little birch groves and some scattered rocks as white as bones. David waits for one of his visions to come around, or at least for one of the voices to start whispering terrible things in his head, but the only sound is the wind swishing and the only view are trees and ground.  
   
It's a safe memory.  
No yellow-eyed demon, no tampering, no tricks. He didn’t think he still had memories like this, and yet.  
   
It must be early fall: the grass is tall and pale yellow. It tickles his knees, because he is only wearing shorts on his thin childish legs. David looks around again to see where the hell is King, and thats when he sees him.  
   
Another kid, on the creek shore.  
   
Ptolomy has told him about this possibility.  
He has told David that he has extraordinary cerebral capacities and that in certain conditions – of great peace or, on the contrary, of great focus – he could be able to pick up other people’s brain waves, like a radio station playing two songs at one time because of a signal interference.  
Til now, he has only experienced auditory stimuli – the voices he has been hearing are apparently people’s thoughts – but in the future he could have some visual glitches. He doensn’t need to worry, it’s totally normal.  
   
In other words, his mind is so fucked up that his hallucinations could have hallucinations, but he really doesn’t need to worry.   
   
David isnt really a people person and he isn’t sure he wants to have a conversation with a visual glitch, but from the creek shore the kid smiles to him in a harmless and disarming way  and David can’t help but smile back.  
   
King must have noticed the stranger too, because he hops towards him, almost stumbling in the tall grass. David has to pick up the pace not to lose sight of it.  
   
The stranger boy has curly hair and freckles on his nose that are so light that David hasn’t noticed them at first. He wears normal clothes, except for the rubber boots and a black cardboard pirate hat where he has drawn a crooked skull.  
   
This is probably not the first time he’s met someone in his fantasies, because he welcomes David with a shrug and a simpatethic smile, as if they were two students waiting for an oral test.  
   
«This voice…» the pirate boy asks him as soon as David is close enough «Can you hear it too?»  
   
David can and it's nice, for once, not being the only one hearing stuff.  
This voice is different from the voices in his head. This is clear and young and familiar. It echoes in distance, carried by the wind like a siren song.  
   
_Amy._  
_I left her behind._  
   
«It's my sister's» David replies, but he doesn’t turn.  He somehow knows that Amy will soon get tired of calling him – _tired of looking for him_ – and will come back home.  
   
It's like he said a magic word. The other kid's face lights up when he says: «I have got a sister too! And a big brother… but they are not good playing pirates»  
He kicks a little rock.  
   
«I am David»  
   
«William» the pirate kid hesitates and bites his lip before saying «But my crew call me _Captain_. You must call me _Captain_ too»  
   
«I will»  
   
They talk a lot, even though David has some trouble understanding William, partly because of his english accent, partly because he keeps using expressions like _fasten the mainsail_ and _ensure the moorings_ , when there isn't any boat. It’s quite confusing, but nice.  
At some point William looks around, staring the birch grove, silver glimmering in the distance, and says something like _Nice Palace you have got here_ , but David has probably misunderstood.  
   
They skirt the creek, their dogs jogging along without leaving paw prints. The ground is probably too hard or something like that, because this is the only detail not making sense. The rest of the memory seems real, maybe the only thing real in David’s life. He doesn’t know who he is, he doesn’t know what does Doctor Bird wants from him, he doesn’t know what killed Lenny and he doesn’t even know if he is going to wake up this time too or he will get stuck forever in a fantasy like that beat poet in the Astral Plane. David doesn’t know anything, except that the memory he is walking through is the best memory he has and he wouldn’t mind not waking up.  
   
Now the dog has slowed down. He walks beside him, his steps are in sync with David's. He reaches out to it and pets his head, while a sudden thought – _a sudden certainty_ – is curving his lips into a smile.  
   
_It has always been here._  
_I dont remember a day when it wasn’t with me._  
   
Til now, David has always thought the only certainties in his life were the voices in his head. It's nice finding out he was wrong.  
   
Suddently, William asks: «What kind of dog is it?»  
   
«A beagle» David answers without even thinking. He has never know anything about dogs and yet the answer has been on his lips all this time «Its name is King»  
   
William stops walking and David fears he has said or done something wrong, but then the kid just squats down and reaches out a hand towards the dog.  
David hears him chuckling when King licks his hand.  
   
David doesn’t know him – _and never will, he’s just a visual glitch_ – but he has the feeling that he is a _happy_ kid, with his cardboard hat and his rubber boots and his quiet chuckle.   
   
He must like dogs, because he keeps petting King visibly feeling at ease, like it’s an habit of his, like his hands were made to fit the shape of the dog’s head and his lips to whisper calmy _good boy, clever boy_. After a couple of minutes, he finally gets up and stumbles a little because of the roughness of the ground.  
   
David helps him to stand: mind wanderes must stay close, right? He nods his head at Kings and asks: «And what about your dog? What's his name?»  
   
«Redbeard» the kid answers very proudly. The wind keeps blows and William’s curly hair is in his face, but he doen’t seem to care. A gap-toothed and yet bright smiles lights up his face when he adds: «He is my best friend»

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, I just wanna thank you for reading this: this is my first crossover ever (I usually avoid them because I dont wanna mess up timelines and characterizations), but after the last episode he had to write a story where lonely boys could meet and pet their imaginary dogs (because, as you know, Redbeard was a cover up for a traumatic loss and King is one of David's personalities. or at least this is what I understood)  
> Just a note for you: "Good boy, clever boy" is what Sherlock says petting Redbeard in his Mind Palace.  
> Well, that's all... please let me know what you think of it! Feedback is always welcome =)
> 
> Itsamess


End file.
